Wearing apparel



June 22, 1937. C. J. BU$cH ET AL 2,084,938

vwmazm APPAREL I Filed March 13, 1936 v 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 N ENTO usckeuejiu/ 013 By 0% I9 June 22, 1937. l C. J. BUSCH ET AL WEARING APPARELFiled March 13, 1936 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 NVENTORS neck 46 enefiubez; Q/

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June 22, 1937. c j BU'SCH AL 2,084,938

WEARING APPAREL Filed March 13, 1956 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 FLE- -5-INVENTORE: 'onmaZJflmsck- "7i n 1 ATTORN.

kg Wm Patented June 22, 1937 UNITED STATES WEARING APPAREL Conrad J.Busch, Wyomissing, and Otto Eugene Huber, Reading, Pa., assignors to TheNarrow Fabric Company, West Reading, Pa., a corporation of PennsylvaniaApplication March 13, 1936, Serial No. 68,702

2 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in wearing apparel, andespecially to the incorporationof a band of fabric having a novel edgeconstruction which facilitates its sewing onto a marginal portion of anarticle of wearing apparel and effects a new seam arrangement inconjunction therewith to hold such portion in place. The invention isparticularly applicable to narrow fabrics such as tapes or bandsprovided with longitudinal ridges whichmay be formed by heavylongitudinal strands, a construction generally employed in elastic bandsin which the longitudinal strands are composed of rubber or otherelastic. material. The invention as applied to such fabrics specificallyis covered in divisional application No. 81,992, filed May 27, 1936.

Tapes or bands of this type are frequently attached to the margins ofarticles of wearing apparel to form an edging, one popular embodimentbeing the elastic garter band attached tothe top of a knitted stocking.Although various methods of attachment have been proposed, there aredefinite advantages in sewing the band to the garment fabric, includingparticularly convenience and speed; but heretofore there have beencertain practical difficulties which have detracted from theeffectiveness and accuracy of the sewing operation.

One difficulty arises when the band includes longitudinal strands ofrubber. In a band of this type some of the rubber strands must belocated in the marginal portion of the band to assure uniform expansionand contraction; but this location renders them especially liable to becut when sewing the marginal portion to the garnient fabric. Thisdifficulty is increased when the band is constructed of relatively loosematerial, such as certain desirable types of braided and warp knitbands; and there is a further complication whenthe garment fabric towhich the band is attached consists of readily distorted material, suchas knitted material, and especially the sheer knitted fabric of whichstockings are usually made.

The general purpose of this invention is to provide an arrangementwhereby the marginal portion of a band or the like provided withrelatively heavy longitudinal ridges or strands may be sewed to garmentfabric rapidly, accurately and without sewing into or across suchstrands. This is in general accomplished by providing a band or the likein which the longitudinal strands are located at predetermined intervalsfrom the edge, providing seaming zones between the strands, adapted forsewing the band to the fabric with a multiple needle machine whoseneedles are spaced relative to the longitudinal strands so that eachneedle is located between two strands and produces on the face of thefabric a line of stitches located in a seaming zone. With thisarrangement the seams are inconspicuous on the face of the band, as theylie in depressed portions between the longitudinal strands. The seamsare preferably crossed and interlooped at the rear of the fabric in anyof the various ways well known in the sewing machine art to provide anelastic composite seam which overlies the fabric, providing a firmsupport that is particularly advantageous for sheer stockings,permitting full elasticity of the band at the margin, and forming a neatbinding for the fabric on the reverse side. These features areespecially desirable in the manufacture of stockings, where neatappearance, strength and elasticity are of prime importance.

A further feature of the invention is to avoid the thickening due to thesuperposition of the margin of the band upon the margin of the garmentfabric. This is in general accomplished by employing a band which isprovided with a substantially thinner marginal zone includinglongitudinal strands and extending across the area that is superposedupon the margin of the fabric by sewing. This thinner marginal zone maybe produced by employing lighter threads in forming such zone; and afeature of the invention is the determination of the fact that theincorporation of such threads to form a zone of the type indicated isparticularly feasible when the band is produced either by braiding or bywarp knitting. The invention includes also certain specificconstructions involved in the incorporation of such threads in bands ofthese types.

When the band is of relatively loose construction, as is frequentlydesirable to produce popular ornamental effects, the transverse threadshave a tendency to slide along the longitudinal elastic strands andbecome bunched and distorted, particularly near the margin, producing anundesirable appearance and uneven support for the elastic strands. Thearrangement above described eliminates this difficulty, as the seamshold the transverse strands longitudinally in. place.

The properly spaced longitudinal strands adjacent the margin likewiseserve to guide and align the seam. They may be utilized in connectionwith guides usually employed in main taining alignment of such margins;but the longitudinal strands have a further guiding effect a Thisexpansible garment margin arranged so thatthe band will havesubstantially uniform longitudinal expansion and tension throughout itswidth.

Bands of this type have heretofore been constructed and attached in suchmanner that certain portions thereof were less extensible, particularlyalong the line of the seam; and the result was an objectionableconstriction of the wearer along the line of the less extensibleportion. This defect is eliminated according to the present invention byemploying a band having uniform longitudinal extensibility throughoutits width, and attaching it by a seam sufiiciently expansible to permitfull and free stretching of the portion of the band engaged by the seam.

Other objects and advantages will appear from the following descriptionwhen considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, in

I attached to the margin of a relatively sheer garment fabric;

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing a warp knit elastic band;

Fig. 3 is a face view of a braided elastic band attached to the top of aknitted stocking to form a garter selvedge therefor;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view on line 44 of Fig. 3, showing the attachingzone with finer threads incorporated in the attaching zone of theelastic band;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 in whichstandard size threads areemployed in the attaching zone;

.Fig. 6 is a sectional view of the fabric and band at the attaching zonewith the needles and associated parts of a sewing machine in positionfor sewing the band to the garment fabric;

Fig. '7 is a diagrammatic illustration of a method of braiding anelastic band such as that shown in Figs. 1 and 3, with the centralportion omitted;

Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic view illustrating a method of manufacture of awarp knit elastic band such as that shown in Fig. 2, the central portionbeing omitted; and i Fig. 9 illustrates diagrammatically a suitablecompound seam.

Considering first the braided band in, shown in Figs. 1 and 4, itincludes a lower marginal zone in which four longitudinal strands l2 areincorporated, which are connected by transverse strands indicatedgenerally at l3. This construction produces a plurality of longitudinalridges corresponding to the location of strands I2, and a plurality ofsubstantially thinner zones intermediate the ridges which constitute theseaming zones l4. These zones are spaced in conformity with the spacingof the needles of a cooperating multiple needle sewing machine so thatthe needles travel in well-defined tracks overcoming any tendency of theneedles to cut across or into the elastics and the seams producedthereby will be accurately located between longitudinal strands l2.

This arrangement is shown best in Fig. 6, in which the strands l2 arelocated at the sides of needles l5 and overlie the upper margin of thestocking fabric l6 resting on the bed-plate H of the machine and held inposition thereon by presser foot 3. By the employment of well knownsuitable guiding arrangements the general relationship between fabric l6and the marginal zone ll of band l0 may be readily maintained; and thespacing of longitudinal strands 12, in conjunction with the tendency ofthe needle points to push the larger strands away from the seams, willserve to restrict the seams to the zones l4 and prevent sewing acrossstrands l2. When the latter are constructed of rubber they are readilycut when penetrated by the needles, seriously detracting from theelasticity of the band It is especially advantageous to employ a seam inwhich the threads carried by the various needles are interlooped orcross-connected below fabric 16 to produce an elastic seam, variousseams of this type being well known. An arrangement of this type isindicated diagrammatically in Figs. 4, 5 and 9 in which the face seams19 have the appearance of ordinary seams but are transversely connectedat 20 beneath the fabric I6. This arrangement reinforces, binds andsupports the margin of fabric l6 and produces a neat appearance on bothsides. It'may alsobe arranged as illustrated in Fig. 5 to envelop theupper edge of fabric l6, serving as a binding therefor. This isparticularly desirable when the band is employed in the mannerillustrated in Fig. 3, in which the upper end of a relatively sheerknitted stocking is sewed to the lower edge of a band l0, since suchcoursewise fabric end may be left in ravelable or unfastened conditionand the seam may envelop a number of courses to prevent raveling andassure firm attachment without distortion.

One type of compoimd seam structure suitable for the purpose isillustrated in Fig. 9. It includes three needle threads and three looperthreads, and can be produced by three needle sewing machines of astandard type. The upper needle thread 43 in Fig. 9 forms a series ofstitches 44 on the face of band in with loops 45 extending through saidband and fabric i6 to the rear face of the fabric. The middle needlethread 46 has a similar series of stitches 41 and loops 48, and thelower needle thread 49 has corresponding stitches 50 and loops 5|. Thestitches 44, 41 and 50 are located between longitudinal warp strands I2or 28 and serve to maintain the weft strands 1.3 or 30 in position onthe warp strands.

Three looper threads are provided, one for each needle thread, and areinterconnected on the exposed face of fabric 5, a bight of each looperthread being drawn through one of three registering loops of the needlethreads and spread so as to engage a plurality of succeeding needlethread loops, forming an expansible seam structure. In the embodimentillustrated herein the middle looper thread 52 is drawn through aneedle. thread loop 48 and spread to envelop the and 5| of thesucceeding stitch. Upper looper thread 54 is drawn through thecorresponding needle thread loop 45 and spread over looper threads 52and 53 to envelop needle thread loops 45 and 4B of the succeedingstitch. The looper threads pass through the needle loops of suchsucceeding stitch and serve to lock in place both the needle loop-s andthe looper thread bights surrounding such loops.

Under certain circumstances it is advantageous to reduce the excessthickness of the overlapping sewed portions of band I0 and fabric l8,which may be accomplished by employing a relatively thinner marginalzone H on band I0. This may be produced by forming such zone from finervide a thinner marginal zone.

threads. A method of making a braided band I having thesecharacteristics is shown in detail in Fig. 7. In this illustrativeembodiment the band includes a first marginal zone (shown at the loweredge in Figs. 1, 3 and 4) which is solidly braided, including fourlongitudinal elastic strands |2; a central zone including longitudinalelastic strands 2|, the central portion of which duplicates theremainder thereof as shown in Fig. 1, and is therefore omitted from theillustration; and a second margin including four longitudinal elasticstrands 22. The elastic strands are interconnected by transverse strands23 traveling back and forth across selected portions of the central zoneand a second margin of the band In and by transverse strands 24,preferably finer than strands 23, traversing the first marginal zone IIand traveling around the elastic strands I2. The transverse strand-s 23and 24 are preferably inelastic. The band In is made substantiallyuniformly longitudinally expansible across its width by making strandsl2, 2| and 22 of substantially uniform size as shown in Figs. 4, 5, 6and 7.

The pattern employed is subject to extensive variations as will beapparent to those skilled in this art. In the particular pattern shownin Fig. 7 the spindles are indicated generally at 25 and the tellers orquoits at 26, with the path of the strand carried byeach spindle 25indicated diagrammatically in the usual manner, the travel of eachspindle 25 around a teller or tellers 26 being controlled in theordinary way by jacquard mechanism. It will be noted that the elasticstrands |2 retain the same general location and will be straight in thefinished braid; while the finer transverse strands 24, interbraidstrands |2 with each other and are marginally interbraided with selectedtransverse strands 23 to preserve the continuity of the braid.

Another type of band adapted for use in connection with this inventionis the warp knit type illustrated generally at 21 in Fig. 2. It isprovided with similar longitudinal elastic strands 28 in the firstmarginal zone I la (shown at the lower edge in Fig. 2), transverselyconnected by finer strands to produce seaming zones as alreadydescribed. One method of producing a band of this type is illustrated inFig. 8, which shows diagrammatically an arrangement applicable to a warpknitting or Raschel machine of the well known type. The specific bandillustrated is produced by feeding the main longitudinal or warp strandsdownwardly to a single bank of needles, knitting a weft thread aroundeach warp strand, and connecting the weft threads transversely to form aband. In the preferredform the warp strands are elastic and the weftthreads in the marginal zone may be of substantially finer size to pro-As shown in Fig. 8, warps or longitudinals 28 and 32 are of the samesize to provide uniform expansibility.

In the arrangement shown, the weft threads which wrap the longitudinalstrands are carried by the first finger bar 29, and include the finerweft threads 30 which wrap the strands 28 in the first marginal zoneIla, as well as the remaining weft threads 3| whose size is determinedby the pattern, and which wrap the remaining longitudinal strands 32.and 32 are carried by the fourth finger bar 33. Intermediate strands areprovided for interlocking adjacent wrapping weft threads. Certain of theinterlocking strands in the form illustrated extend in a zigzag pathbetween the wrapping weft threads of the marginal portions and inter-The longitudinal strands 28 lock all contiguous loops of the wrappingweft threads. These continuous interlocking threads are carried by thethird finger bar 34, and include the continuous interlocking threads 35for the outer margin which engage strands 3|, and preferably finercontinuous interlocking threads 36 engaging the wrapping strands 30 inthe marginal zone The intermediate portion of the band may be patternedby providing suitable spaces or openings, a convenient arrangementincluding interlocking threads 31 on the second finger bar 38 whichconnect spaced loops of adjacent wrapping weft threads 3| to form asuitably patterned structure. The construction and arrangement is suchthat each wrapping weft thread 30 and 3| is connected to each adjacentwrapping weft thread by an interlocking thread 35, 36 or 3'! forming acontinuous band structure. The central portion of the band is omitted asit includes simply a repetition of the adjacent portions, as will beevident from Fig. 2.

A novel margin structure has been provided along the upper edge of theband 21. It includes a special edging strand 39 carried by the fifthfinger bar 40. Strand 39 is arranged to form a series of free loops 4|interlocked at their inner bights 42 with one or more of the Wrappingweft threads 3|. This is accomplished by wrapping strand 39 around anidle needle to form the free outer bight of each loop 4|, andinterlocking the inner bight 42 with a weft thread 3| by bringing strand39 across into looking position in the usual manner. This interlockingmay take place at desired intervals as determined by the usual patternmechanism to provide loops 4| of any preferred length. The interlockedbights 42 of such loops 4| may also be carried across the needles intoposition to be interlocked by more than one of the wrapping weft strands3|, as shown, providing a firmer anchorage for the margin loops.

The specific embodiment of warp knitted braid which has been illustratedand described is adapted to be manufactured by the use of a single bankof needles. The bars are mentioned in order as they appear from thefabric side of the needles; and may be manipulated by the patternmechanism in a manner obvious to those skilled in the art by shoggingthe first bar at the loop side of the needles, and appropriatelyshogging the remaining bars at the fabric side. Other details will beapparent from a study of the relative positions of the various threadsand strands as shown in Fig. 8.

It will be noted that both the braided band l0 and the warp knit band 21are constructed so as to be uniformly extensible longitudinallythroughout their width; and that the seam is of a type that will permitthe engaged portions of the braid to expand without materialrestriction. In both the braided band l0 and the warp knit band 21, thecenter section of the band is provided with apertures to increase itseffectiveness as a garter.

While the invention is particularly suitable for use with elastic bandsof the braided or warp knitting patterns may be used. The word gar- 76ment" is used assynonymous with article of wearing apparel and simiIarexpressions.

We claim:

1. A knitted stocking having a garter seamed to the upper edge thereof,said garter having relatively large straight elastic warp threads ofuniform size spaced across its width and a portion thereof havingopenings to enhance the garter efieot, the seamed edge of the garterhaving a plurality of said warps therein and ,a reduced thicknessproduced by solidly arranged weft threads of reduced size compared tothe weft threads in the major portion of the garter, and

an elastic seam having a plurality of rows of 1 stitches intermediatethe warps in the portion of reduced thickness.

a seam for uniting said garter to the stocking having one or more rowsof stitches intermediate the warps in the portion of reduced thickness.

CONRAD J. BUSCH. OTTO EUGENE HUBER.

